JAY DUNN: It's time to protect pitchers

Last Sept. 5 the Angels’ Eric Aybar was batting in the fourth inning when he must have seen a pitch he liked. He took a healthy cut and, in baseball lingo, he got all of it.

A sizzling line drive jumped off his bat. For a split second he was probably elated. But only for a split second.

A split second is all it took for the ball to travel from home plate to the skull of Athletics pitcher Brandon McCarthy which, unfortunately, is precisely where it went. McCarthy had no chance to react before the ball struck him squarely in the head and deflected to third baseman Josh Donaldson, who fielded the ball and threw Aybar out at first.

McCarthy suffered a severe concussion as a result of the accident and did not throw another pitch in 2012. Yet, by December the Diamondbacks were convinced he had recovered or at least was on the way to recovery. McCarthy had become a free agent and Arizona signed him to a contract worth $5.25 million.

During the first two months of the year he wasn’t the pitcher he had been. After 11 starts he had a 2-4 record with a 5.00 earned run average. Things went downhill from there.

In early June he was dining with his wife and suddenly blacked out from a seizure. He hasn’t pitched since then.

Already this season two more frightening incidents have occurred.

On May 7 Blue Jays’ pitcher J.A. Happ has hit so hard that the ball bounced off his head and into the outfield. The batter, Desmond Jennings of the Rays, wound up with a triple.

On June 15 the Rays’ Alex Cobb was struck by a ball off the bat of the Royals’ Eric Hosmer. This one came straight back towards the plate with enough force that catcher Jose Lobaton was able to pick it up in time to throw Hosmer out at first.

Like McCarthy before them, Happ and Cobb were both immobilized and carried off on a stretcher while every witness had his heart in his throat. It was later determined that Happ had suffered a skull fracture. Cobb was diagnosed as having suffered “only” a minor concussion.

Neither has pitched since being struck.

There’s three examples that were less than a year apart. One baseball hit a man’s head so hard that it bounced to the third baseman. Another flew into the outfield far enough to allow the batter to turn it into a triple. A third ricochetted right back to the catcher.

None of these balls struck a helmet or any other form of protection. The sickening fact is they bounced that hard off a man’s unprotected head.

Maybe it’s time — or past time — to ask ourselves why the pitcher’s head is unprotected. Baseball has rules which require base runners and base coaches to wear batting helmets. These people are usually 100 feet or more away from the batter.

The pitcher, after delivering a pitch, is about 55 feet away. He has no time to react if a hard-hit ball comes in his direction. Yet his head is fully exposed. He wears no protection.

The consequences of no protection have already been severe for McCarthy, Happ and Cobb. We don’t know yet how severe. We don’t know yet if any of them suffered permanent head injuries. We don’t know yet if any of them will ever again be effective major league pitchers.

Yet the consequences of each accident could have been worse. A baseball travelling at a high rate of speed can be lethal. If authorities don’t take steps to protect pitchers, they run the risk that sooner or later someone will be killed from a blow on the head.

Let’s hope somebody does something before that happens.

Requiring pitchers to wear batting helmets similar to those worn by base runners and coaches probably isn’t the solution. Batting helmets might not even remain on a pitcher’s head while he delivers a pitch. Even if they do, they offer only limited protection.

I think I would urge baseball to consider something similar to the helmets worn by amateur boxers which can be fastened under the chin and provide protection for most vulnerable parts of the head. Such a device could be modified for the specific requirements of pitching.

Yes, it would be ugly. It would probably be uncomfortable, especially on hot days. But if it prevented serious injuries, saved careers and maybe even saved lives, it would be beautiful blessing.

A FEW STATISTICS (Wednesday’s games not included): The Cardinals’ Allen Craig is batting .487 with two out and runners in scoring position. His teammate Carlos Beltran is batting .484 in similar situations and other Cardinals aren’t far behind. Matt Holliday is hitting .375, David Freese .313 and Matt Carpenter .300. Perhaps this is why St. Louis has the best record in baseball…The Braves lead their division despite the fact that they’ve been shut out 11 times. Put another way, Atlanta has a 45-22 record in games in which it has scored…Former Thunder catcher Dioner Navarro has emerged as baseball’s best pinch hitter. Now with the Cubs, Navarro is 6 for 14 (.429) with two homers in pinch-hitting roles. In non-pinch hitting appearances his average is .225…The Giants are 22-14 against teams in their own division but only 16-25 against everybody else…Alex Gordon of the Royals is batting .338 on the road with 22 RBIs. At home his average is .234 and he has driven in 16 runs. Interestingly, he has struck out more times on the road…The Red Sox lead the American League in stolen bases with 62. It wasn’t that long ago that the Bosox were baseball’s ultimate station-to-station team…Robinson Cano of the Yankees, Joey Votto of the Reds and Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers share the major league lead in intentional passes. Each has been walked on purpose 10 times.

— Hall of Fame voter Jay Dunn has covered baseball for The Trentonian for 45 years. Reach him at jaydunn8@aol.com